The Career You’ll Love

Sometimes it seems like I’m hard-wired to look for risks, for dangers.  Perhaps I am.  So here’s a powerful question that I use to help break me out of that mindset:

What’s the best that could happen?

Here’s the deal:  When you have to look for the upside, then it becomes more real.  Those scary scenarios start to take a back seat to the more positive energy that flows from this kind of question.

Let’s say that I’m trying to engage with a potential business partner.  Normally my fears start creeping in:

• What if I lose some control?
• What if the partner doesn’t like me?
• What if I invest a whole lot of effort and it doesn’t work out?

Perhaps you recognize this voice too.  This gremlin is sometimes screaming during these times of economic uncertainty.

So I ask myself the question:  What’s the best that could happen?

• I could get more business than I had possibly dreamed of.
• I might find that this partner really is awesome and energizing to work with.
• This could create wonderful surprises and opportunities that I’d never even thought of.

At this point, there’s a danger that I might become over-optimistic, so now I temper it with a deeper grounding:

• Connect with my core principles
• Trust in myself and my capabilities
• Realize that there are always risks in life, but many are worth taking

Now I’m feeling more comfortable to move ahead with conviction and energy.

Related articles:

» You have amazing resources!

» You Can’t Change Others — How to Use Influence to Your Advantage

» Who are you, anyway?

» Do you need a MasterMind group?

» Gimme a break!

Tags: career, coaching, coaching principles, fear

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under Career Coaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.